The present invention relates to a vehicle storage system and especially a carriage which can be mounted in a vehicle for sliding to a position extending from the vehicle for holding storage bins and the like.
In the past it has been common for service oriented industry, such as plumbing, electrical, air-conditioning, and heating repair services to provide on-the-spot service from trucks or vans. Typically, vans and trucks are utilized which have been modified to attach various types of storage bins and facilities inside the vehicle for keeping repair parts and tools in an orderly fashion. A standard van will have various shelving, storage bins, and boxes mounted thereinside. This becomes unwieldly because one has to enter the van, which is not well lighted, to search for repair parts or the correct tools for a particular job and which is invariably full of other necessary unwieldly equipment used by the tradesman, such as pipes, ladders, hoses, and the like to be used or installed by the tradesman. To overcome this problem the present invention is directed towards a van or paneled truck which has a modular sliding carriage storage system which attaches to the vehicle body or frame and maintains storage bins or displays units on peg board or slotted panels. The panel is anchored to a sliding frame, sliding in a fixed suspension fixedly attached to the inside of the vehicle, so that the panels and storage bins can be slid in suspension out the back or side door of a van. The sliding carriage needs to be locked in place when in transit and to be able to be quickly unlocked for sliding the carriages out so access can be gained to the storage bins from outside of the vehicle thereby offering considerable time savings to the operator.
Typical prior U.S. patents having sliding racks, panels or tables may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,529 to Wood, for a truck body with suspension rack in which the side of a pickup truck has a rack for tools mounted thereon and which is slid backwards for better access to a tool chest. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,720,260, to Bowen, Jr., et al, a vending and self service storage unit is provided with a series of sliding panels. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,784,027 to Temp, a drawer unit for pick-up trucks allows the bottom of the pick-up truck to be slid outwards from the pick-up truck. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,423, to Parker, et al., a tool box for pick-up trucks has a hinged cover. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,695, to Zachrick, a rollout tray for a panel truck bed is provided for extending from the back of a truck on casters and has a drop down support for the horizontally positioned trays. In the Truelove, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,892, a utility rack for station wagons is provided, while in the Zelin patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,422, a similar sliding luggage rack for a wagon is provided with legs. In the Tuohy, III, U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,326, a rolling tool box is provided on the back of a pick-up truck while in the Weber patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,565, a display panel for merchandise allows display panels to get attached along a wall. In contrast to these prior patent the present invention provides a modular unit which has the entire unit bolted into a vehicle, such as a van or panel truck, and provided a suspension vertically extending carriage which locks in the van and locks in an extended position extending from the van for easy access to storage bins or the like.